


Winds of Change

by elynne



Category: Flight Rising
Genre: Angst, Dragons, Gen, changing flights, flight rising - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-24
Updated: 2013-10-24
Packaged: 2017-12-30 09:49:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1017147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elynne/pseuds/elynne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Progenitor feels control of her clan slipping through her claws, as the lair's members request to relocate from Wind to Lightning flight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Winds of Change

"Fine! Then you can be the leader of this clan!"

Goldsmoke looked up from the pool near the cave's entrance where he'd been dozing to see Vestus streak past overhead. Glancing back, he frowned at Devicelo standing framed in the entrance, then leapt into the air after his mate.

If Vestus had been intent on not being followed, there was no way the heavier Guardian could have caught up with her. She looked back, then slowed and dipped down towards an isolated spire out on the windswept steppes of the Windsinger's domain. She landed gracefully and watched him alight, curling his bulk carefully around the stone spike.

"How many of them want to move to Lightning's domain?" he rumbled quietly.

"All the usual suspects," the green Fae answered, climbing up to perch on Goldsmoke's forearm. "Cedrift goes along with whatever Devicelo says these days, of course, just like Korban does with Nizori. And now they have Aizerue, Seath, and Opabinia on their side, so they have a majority. The only dragons who really want to stay are the Spirals and the Skydancers. The rest of them either want to leave, or don't care much either way. If I could get the Snappers to side with me..." she trailed off and slumped, resting her head on the Guardian's wrist.

"Does Devi want to lead the clan?"

"Zie doesn't," Vestus said, using the Wildclaw's chosen pronoun with a twinge of bitterness. "But Nizori said she will."

"Nizori?" Goldsmoke snorted a laugh. "She's about as personable as a sandshark! The others will never listen to her!"

"No, but the Imperials will support their mates." Vestus sighed heavily. "And Rosacea has declared that he will stay with the clan and lend his support as it's needed, which effectively means that he'll back Nizori if I leave. Since he taught most of the clan-born members when they were hatchlings, that carries a lot of weight."

"But he won't use his position to push for staying here?"

Vestus shook her head. "No. He thinks that refusing the wildclaw scientists," hissing the word out, "will keep building tension until the clan fractures. And I think that even though he'd like to stay, he's also excited about the idea of changing flights."

Goldsmoke stared off into the distance, watching a rainbow of colorful kites dancing over the bamboo forest. "Could we stay?" he asked, even more quietly. "Would the Spirals and Skydancers stay with us? Maybe we could found another clan."

"If they leave, I don't want to found another clan," Vestus said in a trembling voice. "I feel like I've failed the Windsinger. He gave me this lair because I asked for it--I told him that I could handle the responsibility. But now that the clan is big and prosperous, they want to leave his flight..." She sobbed once, then quieted as Goldsmoke gently nuzzled her.

"We can stay anyway, with whoever else wants to," he said in a soft rumble.

"You mean--ask to be--to be exalted?" Vestus looked up at him uncertainly, with tears in her eyes. "Do you think the Windsinger would accept me, after my failure?"

"I don't think you've failed," Goldsmoke said. He sat up on the spire and lifted her on his arm, nodding in the direction of the kite city that soared high overhead. "You've built a large, prosperous clan, and we've accomplished many things under your leadership. I think you deserve a place of honor up there--and I'll tell the Windsinger that too, when it's time."

"You'll come with me?" Vestus dipped her head, to rub her muzzle against his.

"Of course," he said, closing his eyes and flaring his wings slightly. "You are my partner, my mate, and my best friend. I want to stay with you and support you, in whatever you choose to do."

They sat together for a while in silence, with the ever-playful wind tugging around their still forms.

**Author's Note:**

> There may be more...


End file.
